Hair spray, mousse, wax and gel

Memories of my mother spraying her hair liberally with countless cans of hair spray over a number of years , followed by the mousses and gels that then became popular stay with me.

I vividly remember the little hand held shield she used that prevented the hair spray from getting in her eyes. I can still smell the throat-catching fragrances of the various sprays and potions she applied, that wafted out of the bathroom and throughout the house. I shudder to think how many hours she spent of her life in a hair products chemical fog.

My mother died of kidney failure when she was just 51.

The hair sprays and gels she used over the decades didn’t kill her, but they certainly didn’t help. My mother took great pride in presenting herself nicely, so cosmetics were a big part of her life until the disease that lurked in her since childhood took hold and then she started reacting to many synthetic chemicals. The fact that she had these strong reactions shows that these cosmetics were toxic – they hastened her demise.

So what’s actually in this stuff and aside from the effects on humans, what is the impact on the environment? It not only sits on your skin and soaks into it, but once you shower, it winds up down the drain in into our waterways.

For starters, most come in elaborate packaging; cans and plastic spray bottles. The plastics will be with us for a long time to come; breaking down into toxic chemicals that poison the earth and groundwater. Most of the plastics are made from crude oil; the industry which has wreaked so much havoc on this planet.

I’m not sure what the average person consumes in terms of hair sprays, gels and waxes a year, but it would be safe to say my mom added hundreds of plastic bottles and jars to landfill during her life. She absolutely adored nature, the consequences just really weren’t on our radar in those days. As my mother neared the end of her life, these things became more apparent to her.

As for the ingredients in these product, here’s the laundry list of chemicals in a few products I looked at. I haven’t used this sort of stuff since the amazing 80’s. Memories.. brrrr :).

As with other cosmetics, the number of ingredients and chemicals that are made from petrochemicals (originating from crude oil) is astounding.

If you don’t see the chemicals above in your hair products, it doesn’t mean that nasties aren’t lurking in them. The above were single product samples and not all the ingredients from each as the printing on the labels was so small, my eyes were starting to bleed trying to read them.

You don’t need any special knowledge or hours of research to track down what’s in your hair care products. Run them against a database such as the excellent application available at Skin Deep. If you decide that the risk to your health and the environment is too great; consider looking for earth friendly products based on vegetable rather than petrochemical ingredients.

These can be found on the web using search engines by simply entering terms such as:

.. and other related terms. Products based on plant ingredients are certainly out there, reasonably priced these days and are better for you and our planet! Do be cautious though as some products may contain natural and organic ingredients, but also have other chemicals mixed in as well; yet still be marketed as “earth friendly”. It really pays to read the labels.